Thursday, April 02, 2009

At first glance, an attractive, competent, and unremarkable cover for David Foster Wallace's 2005 commencement address to Kenyon College graduates.

On second thought: a pretty exceptional design.

Here's why: read the address. Wallace is urging everyone to try to escape what he calls our "default setting" of self-centeredness, but he leaves as an open question just what the environment you live in will look like. To paraphrase one of his examples, get pissed off at the person who just cut you off on the expressway, or realize that it just might be possible that car is rushing a sick child to the hospital, and that in fact it is you who is in their way.

The goldfish is here because of the story with which Wallace begins his address, but what makes this design work is the absence of water, the "this" of the title. It's not there because Wallace is sagely telling his audience that it's up to them to construct the world in which they'll live as adults, to determine if their water will be clear and bright or polluted and full of shit.

I like the goldfish. It's easily accessible as an icon. Everyone can relate to the experience of having one, directly or indirectly. It is easily identified by a general populace who might not know the aesthetic differences between a salmon or a trout without the help of a label in a grocery store.

The text at the top? Excellent call. It's like it's floating on the implied water as the goldfish swims down below. Well thought out, two thumbs up, etc.

I don't know, I was hoping for something a little more. Then again, DFW's covers never really justified his work in my mind. I never saw a cover for Broom or Infinite Jest I thought really brilliantly captured the works.

The type is weird – are the line breaks intentional? Why are 'Some/Thoughts' and 'Compassionate/Life' broken so awkwardly? The larger point size of the orange text encroaches into the grey area too… maybe there's a reason.

I think the slight awkwardness of the line breaks and different point sizes evokes Wallace's prose style rather elegantly. I like the way the page gets a broken orange diagonal, too.

Joseph: I've given you a splash award, for what that's worth, as a way of registering my admiration of this blog - explanation at http://roberthanks.typepad.com/zoo_in_the_head/2009/04/covered-in-glory.html